If you have polycystic ovarian syndrome, these food and exercise choices could change your life

A healthy diet and sensible exercise plan may help sufferers manage polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) symptoms and feel much better.

If you're reading this, you've probably got PCOS or know somebody who has, so you understand it's a hormonal imbalance generally characterised by too much oestrogen and testosterone in your body or too little progesterone.

The bad news is that symptoms can include excess hair, hair loss, acne, weight gain, difficulties with fertility, increased anxiety and depression and symptoms associated with periods.

The good news is there are a few diet and exercise tweaks that can have a dramatic effect on how you look and feel — that’s according to Gemma Clark, a clinical nutritionist who specialises in PCOS. Here are her ground rules.

Watch your sugar intake

As covered on Coach before, insulin is a hormone that's produced by beta cells in the pancreas and prompts our cells to take up glucose (from carbohydrates we eat) from the bloodstream.

"When your blood sugar is out of whack because your body struggles to regulate it, you may experience lots of peaks and troughs, which we often satisfy with sugar and starchy carbohydrates," Clark explains.

"If that's what our body sees as delivering energy, it could start a cycle of carb-craving.

"Most people with PCOS haven't got adequate sensitivity to insulin, so the high blood sugar lingers for a while as our body pumps out even more insulin to try to mop up the excess sugar and then we eventually get the energy crash, so we reach for sugars and carbs again."

"Essential fatty acids, like fish oils, are great for our skin, plus hormones are made from fats so consuming good fats helps support our endocrine system to build hormones. Walnuts, avocados, flax oil and fish oil are all great inclusions," Clark explains.

"B vitamins, typically found in meat protein, are also hugely important for making energy, building hormones and detoxing our liver, which are important when there is a hormonal imbalance."

Some people find a ketogenic diet (high fat, moderate protein, low carb) helpful for PCOS, although Clark says it takes a lot of dedication so does not suit everybody.

"It takes a certain type of client – if you're someone with a family or kids to feed it can be tricky, and it's not a good idea for someone with a history of eating disorders," she says.

"If a ketogenic diet is sustainable for you, go for it. But if it's not realistic, then just look at the ways you can slightly tweak and improve your diet to include more vegetables, healthy fats and protein."

Look after your emotional health

PCOS can be associated with low moods, as a result of hormonal shifts as well as stress about symptoms, which can lead to junk food cravings.

"I find that with a lot of my PCOS clients, there's not even so much a physiological craving but they feel a bit down – there's acne, skin issues, excess hair growth and oily hair, and weight can be a concern," Clark says.

"If people are feeling self-conscious about how they look, that can trigger an emotional eating response too."

Clark says it's important that PCOS sufferers are kind to themselves because if you can reduce stress, you may find cravings easier to manage and then symptoms may also subside.

"When it comes to healthy eating, I'm very much one for taking things slowly and taking little steps," she says.

"What is the one change that will make the biggest difference now? If you have lollies every day at 3pm, maybe you could replace them with fruit every other day for the first week, then on three days the second week until you can eliminate the habit."

Look for variety in your exercise

Given you want to keep your stress hormones in check, Clark says that a "go hard or go home" attitude may be counterproductive for women with PCOS.

"A half an hour of vigorous exercise a day is plenty – you don't need to smash it out at the gym for an hour-and-a-half to see results," she says.

"If you make your body even more stressed, more sugar will be pulled into the bloodstream so you're essentially doing yourself a disservice."

Clark suggests a combination of different exercises of different intensities.

"If you were to do two or three high intensity interval training sessions a week, along with a couple of yoga sessions or an hour long walk, that might be good," she says.

"It doesn't have to be strenuous every single day. Listen to your body."